Snowmageddon

On Saturday, the temperature reached near 60 degrees.  We played outside for hours, took walks around the block, played baseball, grilled out.

Fast forward five days to today, Thursday.  This is our neighborhood.

 

Those would be power lines drooping down over our neighbor's yard.  Yikes!

We have been stuck in our house for three days straight due to high winds, frigid temps, raining ice (yes, raining ice) and now snow.  And it's the ice that's really wreaking havoc in this city.  Ice is covering streets and sidewalks, power lines, trees and everything else in town.  We lie in bed at night and listen to the creaking, groaning and eventual snapping of giant tree limbs, followed by what sounds like glass shattering as the ice covered branches crash to the ground.  Roads are closed because of downed trees, businesses are shut down and school has been closed for two days.  (Remember we live in South Dakota.  School NEVER closes in South Dakota)  Thousands are without power.  Sirens are constant all throughout town as firefighters and police officers are working around the clock putting out fires and removing tree branches from on top of people's homes.  We, thankfully, still have power, heat and food (I did all my grocery shopping on Monday before the storm hit.  Whew!).   We're just going a little stir crazy, that's all!

Chris was home all day yesterday.  The power was out at his office and considering 90% of his job involves a computer, there wasn't much he could do.  Having him home made the day go by way faster.

This is the craziest April weather and I am unbelievably ready for SPRING!!!

Brooks & Carter: an update

My boys are growing and changing so much I can hardly keep track of what's new, who's doing what, what new words Carter has, etc.  So I'm just gonna jot down a few notes, really for my own personal sake.

Carter - 19 months

He's chewed all the corners off his blanket.  It's disgusting & slimy.  He loves it.

loves putting his hands in his pockets

hates being told "no"

can throw a really big tantrum when the above happens
tantrums may involve any (or all) of the following: throwing things, hitting things, throwing himself on the floor, burying his face into a wall and crying, screaming

tantrums kind of make me laugh.  they probably shouldn't

will eat anything I give him

bananas are his favorite.  he would eat them for every meal if I let him.  

I don't let him.

is talking up a storm.  can say several multi-syllable words.  so smart.

is good at stacking blocks

tries to dribble a basketball like his big brother.  does pretty good
is good at putting away toys

is surprisingly OCD.  proof he's my kid

has a smile and laugh that lights up a room.  it's infectious

loves bath time

still loves anything with a wheel

loves to go for rides in the wagon

will give me random hugs and kisses.  that's my favorite

is shy when meeting new people

new people think he doesn't ever cry

he does
is very opinionated
knows all the animal sounds

can climb onto the couch and chairs

loves to look out the window

will clap at the end of a song

has little interest in watching TV.  I'm ok with that

is well behaved in public.  not always the case at home

is not very patient

out-eats Brooks at most meals.  sometimes out-eats me

likes to wear Daddy's shoes around the house

will wear mittens in the house but refuses them when we go out

Brooks - 3.5 years

 loves music

I mean, really really loves music

every surface in our home is a potential drum

watches cello videos as a reward

loves things to be orderly

doesn't like change

is not always good at sharing with his little brother

doesn't like time-outs

still cheers for the Vikings

 sometimes plays really great with Carter
he's a good big brother
loves to make Carter laugh

likes to clean the bathroom.  cries if I won't let him

was excited to share his room with Carter

is a hard sleeper

likes to sleep with a stuffed animal.  not any one in particular

loves to read books

enjoys playing basketball, baseball, football or whatever sport is in season

adores his Daddy

likes to snuggle
loves his family to be all together

likes watching Elmo

has a great memory

knows all the letters of the alphabet and their sounds

will be reading soon, I'm convinced

will do just about anything for a piece of cheese

we always have cheese in our house

likes to ride his bike

has no concept of time. doesn't do a lot of things in hurry

eats slow

teaches me to eat slow

is sensitive to loud noises

doesn't like mannequins. they make him cry 

loves to play outside

has a tender heart toward people
doesn't like to see anyone hurt or sad

doesn't take naps anymore

likes to choose his own clothes in the morning

asks about 4,593 questions a day

I answer every.single.one of them

Carter moved out!

After 19 months, Carter finally moved out .......... of our room.

When our babies our little, it so much easier to just have them sleep in our room.  We're not really bed-sharing folks (I can share the bed, my children cannot share anything), but I do like them in my room.  Nursing is much simpler when I can just pick them up from their crib, plunk them in bed, lay down & nurse them and return them to their bed.  Easy.  And so that was Carter's first room ..... our room.  We didn't have a time frame as to how long he would be in our room, we just kind of let it be.

Well, letting it be led us to 19 months later.  He's still in our room.  And I'm really ok with that.  He mostly sleeps through the night, but when he wakes up at 5 or 6am to nurse, it's still just easier to reach over and pull him into bed with me.  We have a huge room so his crib really didn't overwhelm the space.  Plus, in our two bedroom house, the only other option is for him to sleep is in Brook's room, and I didn't want Carter waking him up in the night.  But that all changed this last week.

Carter caught some kind of icky head cold/virus thing that really wiped him out last week Sunday.  And then on Monday, the stuffy nose & cough followed.  Translate that into sleeping terms: he did not.  He couldn't breathe well and that meant he didn't sleep well.  When we'd put him to bed at 8pm he'd sleep for about an hour, wake and cry for a minute or so, then fall back asleep.  He'd do this at least once every hour.  But that changed when we went to bed.  He'd still wake every hour, but instead of just going back to sleep, he'd see me lying in the bed next to him and scream even louder.  And louder!  Then he'd start screeching.  (This kid's got lungs).  He'd keep screaming until I woke up to rock or nurse him back to sleep.  This happened every.hour.  I was so exhausted by morning I could hardly see straight.  And I had zero patience with him or even Brooks.

He kept this up all week.  He'd sleep fine until I was in the room.  I know I need to be attentive to my kids needs, but I just couldn't keep this pace.  It was definitely time for a change.  So we decided to move him into the next room over.  Brooks was more than happy to have his little brother in his room.  In fact, totally separate from all the above mentioned events, Brooks asked if Carter could sleep in his room.  Now seemed like the right time.

So last night Chris disassembled the crib and moved it out!

taking the bed apart

Carter saw Daddy putting his crib together in his new room and offered a hug.  Not sure he really knew what was going on, but it was sweet anyway :) 

Brooks AND Carter's room

And within an hour, we had everything moved over.  This room is a good size too, so it easily fit the crib, rocking chair and Carter's little dresser with room to spare.  I was bit nervous how the first night would go with them sleeping together, but we put them both in bed, prayed and left.  And they both fell asleep.  No playing, crying, or fussing.  Just sleep.  And Carter slept straight through until 5am!  I can't tell you how good it felt to have six hours of continuous sleep!!  Tonight was more of the same (well, besides Brooks' insisting he needs one.more.drink of water before bed.  That's a whole 'nother story).  I'd say it was a good change for us all.

And now Chris and I have our room back, which now seems HUGE without all of Carter's stuff in there.  We don't have to tiptoe and whisper when we're going to bed.  We even turned on the light!  (Hey, we're parents.  These things excite us, ok?)  I'm hoping things continue to go well and hopefully, someday, just maybe Carter will sleep all the way until 7am.   One can dream, right??